Aino Folk-Tales

31/10/2016 Aino Folk­Tales
deceiving and killing his enemy, the senior chief. "I suppose you remember it all now," said the god; "it was I
who caused you to forget it, and thus saved you from having it bought by the wicked senior chief, because I
am pleased with the way in which you keep the privy clean, not even letting grass grow near it. And now I
will show you the reality of that of which before you saw only the dream­image."
So the man was led up the bank of a stream through the woods to the house of the goddess, who smiled
beautifully, and whose room was carpeted with skins. She was the badger­goddess. She comforted him, fed
him plenteously, and said: "You must deceive the senior chief, saying that the god of door­posts, pleased at
your being buried near him, took you out, and gave you these beautiful clothes. He will then wish to have the
same thing happen to him." So the man went back to the village, and appeared in all his splendid raiment
before the senior chief, who had fancied him to be still in the hole,—a punishment which would be
successful if it made him confess his dream, and also if it killed him.
Then the good junior chief told him the lies in which the badger­goddess had instructed him. Thereupon the
senior chief caused himself to be buried in like fashion up to the neck, but soon died of the effects.
Afterwards the badger­goddess came down to the village, p. 46 and married the good man, who became the
senior of all the chiefs.—(Written down from memory. Told by Ishanashte, 16th November, 1886.)
xxxix.—The Baby in the Box.
There was once a woman who was tenderly loved by her husband. At last, after some years, she bore him a
son. Then the father loved this son even more than he loved his wife. She therefore thought thus: "How
pleasant it used to be formerly, when my husband loved me alone! But now, since I have borne him this nasty
child, he loves it more than he does me. It will be well for me to make away with it."
Thus thinking, she waited till her husband had gone off bear­hunting in the mountains, and then put the
baby into a box, which she took to the river and allowed to float away. Then she returned home. Later on, her
husband came back; and she, with feigned tears, told him that the baby had disappeared—stolen or strayed,
—and that she had vainly searched all round about the house and in the woods. The man lay down, like to
die of grief, and refused all food. Only at length, when he saw that his wife, too, went without her food, did
he begin to eat a little, fearing, in his affection for her, that she too might die of hunger. However, it was only
when he was present that she fasted. She ate her fill behind his back.
At last, one day, not knowing what to do to rouse him, she said to him: "Look here! I will divert you with a
story." Then she told him the whole story exactly as it had happened, being herself, all the while, under the
delusion that she was telling him an ancient fairy­tale. Then he flew into a rage, took his bludgeon, beat her
to death, and then threw her corpse out­of­doors. This was the way in which the gods chose to punish her.
Then the husband, knowing now that his search must be made down the stream, started off. At last, after
seeking for a long time, he came to a lonely house, where he found a very venerable­looking old man, an old
woman, and their middle­aged daughter, and also a boy. He said to the old man: "'I come to ask whether you
know p. 47 anything of my little boy, who was placed in a box and set to float down the stream." The old man
replied: "One day, when my daughter here went to draw water from the river, she found a box with a little
boy in it. We knew not whether the child was a human creature, a god, or a devil. So doubtless he is yours.
We have kept the box too. Here it is. You can judge by looking at it."
It turned out to be the same box, and the same boy. So the father rejoiced. Then the old man said: "Remain
here. I will give to you for wife this daughter of mine, my only child. Live with us as long as my old wife
and I remain alive. Feed us, and then you shall inherit from me." The man did so. When the old people died,
he inherited all their possessions; and then, with his new wife and his beloved son, returned to his own
village. So you see that, even among us Ainos, there are wicked women.—(Written down from memory.
Told by Ishanashte, 17th November, 1886.)
xl.—The Bride Bewitched.
http://www.sacred­texts.com/shi/aft/aft.htm#I 24/31